Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said goalkeepers will undergo special penalty training this week ahead of the World Cup, which Qatar will host this year.
Van Gaal called up four goalkeepers for the European Nations Cup matches against Poland and Belgium this week, as the Netherlands seek to top their group and qualify for the finals scheduled for next June.
But the veteran coach said the priority would be to finalize the team’s preparations for the World Cup, which will be held next November in Qatar, when the Netherlands play in Group A, which includes the host country, Ecuador and Senegal.
In the 2014 World Cup, Van Gaal was famous for changing the goalkeeper before the end of extra time against Costa Rica in the quarter-finals in Brazil when he pushed Tim Kroll instead of Jesper Cillessen to save a penalty shootout and lead the Netherlands to victory.
“I’m always looking for little advantages and that’s why I’m particularly interested in this,” Van Val told reporters. “We have seen in the past the big role that penalty kicks play in the World Cup,” he added.
The Netherlands will play Poland and Belgium in the European Nations League, then it will open its World Cup campaign against Senegal on November 21, then Ecuador on November 25, before facing Qatar on November 29.
The Netherlands has never won the World Cup and was runner-up in 1974, 1978 and 2010, and won the European Nations Cup in 1988.
The Netherlands team was absent from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, knowing that its participation in Qatar is in the eleventh participation in the World Cup.